AMV BBDO Crafts Interactive Film Paying Tribute to Nelson Mandela

The Economist and AMV BBDO, the publication’s UK agency, teamed up to create a moving interactive film paying tribute to South African national hero and tireless anti-apartheid crusader Nelson Mandela. Mandela, in case you’ve lost all contact with the world for several days, died of a lung infection on December 5th, at the age of 95. The film is being released in anticipation of tomorrow’s memorial service for Mandela.

Entitled “The Long Walk Is Over,” the video shows a series of individuals walk into a large field and place objects, such as photos, flowers, clothing and placards, on the ground — accompanied by voiceover from British poet, Benjamin Zephaniah. At the film’s conclusion, the camera pans out to show these items forming a large likeness of Nelson Mandela’s face. After the film has concluded, small boxes with years appear around the items in the portrait. Users can click on these dates to learn more about a given period in Mandela’s life via excerpts from The Economist archive, with links to the full articles.

The Economist‘s chief marketing officer, Susan Clark, says, “We are proud to offer this film to help tell the story of Nelson Mandela, to show turning points in the life of a man who made his mark on the world in so many ways. The fact that Nelson Mandela read The Economist during his time at Robben Island is something that we are particularly proud of and this video is a way for us to pay tribute to him and his life.”

You can watch “The Long Walk Is Over” above, although we recommend heading over to www.mandelaswalk.com for the full interactive experience, if you have the time. And if you’d like an even better picture of Mandela’s life and his struggle for equality in South Africa, why not read his famous “An ideal for which I am prepared to die” speech?

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